The paper is focused on the impacts of
hydraulic fracturing and unconventional natural gas extraction on water
resources.

The water-related concerns identified by
the interviewees included water

withdrawals, groundwater contamination
associated with well drilling and production, wastewater management, truck
traffic and its impacts on water quality, surface spills and leaks, and stormwater
management.

The paper
provides a brief but excellent overview of these issues and comes to some not
surprising conclusions:

A lack
of credible and comprehensive data and information is a major impediment to
identify or clearly assess the key water-related risks associated with
hydraulic fracturing and to develop sound policies to minimize those risks.

There
are limited number of peer-reviewed, scientific studies on the process and its
environmental impacts. As a result, the discourse
around the issue is largely driven by opinion. This hinders a comprehensive
analysis of the potential environmental and public health risks and
identification of strategies to minimize these risks.

The
dialog about hydraulic fracturing has been marked by confusion and obfuscation
due to a lack of clarity about the terms used to characterize the process. Additional
work is needed to clarify terms and definitions associated with hydraulic
fracturing to support more fruitful and informed dialog and to develop
appropriate energy, water, and environmental policy.

More data.More scientific research and analysis. Common terms.Dialogue. Transparency. All are in in
short supply. All are urgently needed.All are essential
to separating fracking fact from fiction.

A
new report from the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) demonstrates that outdoor
recreation is a huge economic engine for the nation.The report finds that 6.1 million American
jobs are directly supported by the outdoor industry, and that Americans spend
$646 billion each year on activities like camping, biking, hunting, and snow
sports, generating almost $80 billion annually in tax revenue.

The report contains some revealing statistics.The outdoor recreation sector grew about 5
percent per year between 2005 and 2011 – in the depths of the deepest recession
since the Great Depression.Outdoor
recreation employs more Americans than the real estate industry, information
technology, oil and gas, education, transportation and warehousing,
construction, or finance and insurance. Did you know that more American jobs
depend on trail sports than there are lawyers in the United States?

OIA estimates that 140 million Americans
recreate outdoors.Where do all these
folks recreate, and what is the resource base upon which over 6 million jobs
depend?

The public lands - national parks and
forests, state parks, state forests, and game lands, and local parks and
conserved land.As OIA says, “America’s
public lands and waters are the very foundation of the national outdoor
recreation system.”

The OIA report
follows other analyses that highlight the essential importance of conserving
our public lands.A 2011
Wilderness Society reportRural
Jobs and America’s Public Lands, found that
America’s wild places are responsible for addinga trillion dollarsto
the US economy every year.

In Pennsylvania, outdoor recreation is responsible for about one
sixth of Pennsylvania’s $33 billion tourism economy – the state’s second
largest industry. Our state parks system aloneis aneconomic
engine, returning almost $10 to local economies for every dollar
invested by the state, generating more than $1 billion in economic activity in
nearby communities and support almost 13,000 related jobs.

And then there isthePennsylvania Wilds.
A glorious 12-county region of the state’s northern tier, the Pennsylvania
Wilds is home to some of the finest outdoor experiences in the nation and to
more than 2 million acres of public land – comparable in size to Yellowstone
National Park – featuring 29 state parks, 50 state game lands, eight state
forests and the Allegheny National Forest. Pennsylvania’s wilderness, too,
showsdocumented success.

These recent studies support what Pennsylvania has
already powerfully shown: that conservation is economic development.Any way you add it up, our great
outdoors, in addition to restoring our spirits, helps to drive our economy.
But we must, as OIA points out, “manage
and invest in parks, waters and trails as a system designed to sustain economic
dividends for America.”

NREL
says that the study is the most comprehensive analysis of high-penetration
renewable electricity of the continental United States.

Reaching
that lofty target involves huge
challenges. It will require a transformation of the electricity
system involving every element of the grid, increased flexibility of the electric
system, and expanded multi-state transmission infrastructure. Costs will be high - "comparable to published cost estimates
of other clean energy scenarios.” Improvement in the cost and
performance of renewable technologies would have the greatest impact on reducing
those costs. But there are no insurmountable long-term constraints to renewable
electricity technology manufacturing capacity, materials supply, or labor
availability, says the report.

The report says that the increased electric system flexibility that would
be necessary to balance variable renewable energy supply with demand can be met
by a portfolio of flexible conventional generation, grid storage, new
transmission, more responsive loads, and changes in power system operations. Natural
gas would be a key to the success of the transformation, and not
a barrier.

The NREL report lays out a fundamental challenge to our nation. Will we be wise enough – and bold enough - to
meet it?

A Green thing

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity...and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.

William Blake, English poet (1757-1827)

About Me

John is Director of the Center for Environment, Energy, and Economy and Lecturer in Sustainability at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. He is a former Senior Fellow and current Advisory Board member at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, and a consultant. He served as Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection from Jan. 2015-May 2016, and as Secretary of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources from April 2009-Jan. 2011. He is the only person in PA's history to serve as Secretary of both of the state's natural resource agencies. He also served as a two term Mayor of Hazleton, PA, and as an Alternate Federal Commissioner on the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.
John is a graduate of Bloomsburg University with a degree in economics, and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Lehigh University.